How to Play the Appreciation Game

Learning how to show appreciation daily for everything is one of the highest emotional states you can experience. Many people find that it requires great diligence to cultivate a persistent attitude of appreciation. That’s because we’ve been culturally conditioned to focus on what we don’t have, rather than appreciation for what we’ve already received and achieved.

“Be thankful for what you have; you’ll end up having more. If you concentrate on what you don’t have, you will never, ever have enough..” – Oprah Winfrey

When you make being grateful a habit, you’ll feel true joy and contentment, no matter what you have or don’t have in your life. And since the Law of Attraction states that like attracts like, being grateful will naturally attract more into your life that you can be grateful for. When you learn how to show appreciation, it’s a never ending cycle of positivity!

We do dozens of things every day on autopilot, such as eating our meals, taking showers, or doing the dishes. We don’t have to spend time visualizing these activities or putting them on our to-do lists. We simply do them out of habit. Playing The Appreciation Game on a daily basis is a great mindfulness training and will help you turn gratitude into a daily habit, so you can attract more joy and abundance into your life all year long.

How to Show Appreciation Daily

1. Set a time every day

First, set a specific time each day to consciously appreciate everything you encounter. An ideal time to do this is on your way to or from work.

2. Appreciate everything you encounter

Second, appreciate the people you pass, the road you walk on, the cars that let you merge into a different lane, the street signs that make it easy for you to know where you’re going, the rain that’s nourishing the plants and trees, and so on.

3. Look for the good in every situation

Third, look for the good in all situations – even those you would normally view as negative. As the saying goes, “Every cloud has a silver lining.” For example, when my wife was in a car accident a few years ago, she could have chosen to berate herself or question her judgment. Instead, she learned how to stay focused on her gratitude for suffering only minor injuries and for the help she received from other drivers.

Remember, new habits take 30 to 60 days to lock in.

Show Appreciation at Least 10 Times a Day

Express your appreciation to at least 10 people a day, both individuals you know intimately, as well as virtual strangers who touch your life. Experiment with the different forms of appreciation and observe how much more deeply your appreciation is received when you find the right way to deliver it for each individual. Then keep track of everything you’ve appreciated on your scorecard.

I don’t go to bed without achieving my daily appreciation quota. I appreciate my wife and children, write letters to my mother or stepfather, or email my staff. Do this every day for six months or until you no longer needed the card as a reminder.

As you build the habit of appreciation, it helps to expand the circle of people whom you appreciate. Think bigger. Our society flourishes because of connections. We literally couldn’t survive without other people.

Nobody pumps their own petroleum, turns it into gas, and trucks it into their own town. Other people do it. The food we eat probably has 30 to 40 people involved in it before it gets to our tables. Although they may be strangers, the people who serve us by doing their part in making our society function deserve our thanks, too.

Try it for Yourself

Grab an index card, a journal, or keep a note in your phone to start writing down at least 10 things you appreciate daily for the next 30 days. It may not feel natural at first to focus on appreciating what you already have, especially when you’re first learning how to show appreciation.

But by faithfully practicing The Appreciation Game, you’ll begin to change your conditioning. And to help keep you more accountable, comment below how you plan on building an attitude of gratitude.